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2 TheEthicalChallenges in theContextofClimateLossandDamage 51
partof itsownintegrity.Lossofculturalheritagerelates tohistoricalcharacteristics,
where no replica of the lost object will be regarded as equivalent to the original.
Finally, biodiversity, anotheroftenquotedNELDdistinct fromecosystemservices,
isvaluedasanassetofvariety.
Offsetting lossesof irreplaceableendsnecessarily reliesonprovidingalternative
ends that are perceivedby those affected asbeing able toprovide a similar level of
wellbeing compared to before the loss. The fishermen’s communitymight receive
funding enabling them to become farmers with comparable income levels, food
security and social status as before.However, according toGoodin (1989), a shift
inpreferenceswill havebeen forcedupon them, infringingupon their integrity and
personalautonomyandultimately leavingtheminastateofundeservedharm.What
follows is that actions that inflict the lossof irreplaceableassetsonotherscannever
befullyaddressedbyanyamountofremedy.Thisisespeciallyimportantconsidering
financial payments.Whatever amount ofmoney is paid to a harmed community, if
theendsare irreplaceable,bydefinitionsuchpaymentscannotmake thecommunity
wholeagain.Butfinancialpaymentsandotheractions recognising the factofunde-
servedL&Dare certainly important steps for regaining a just baseline distribution
(cf.ThompsonandOtto2015;Huggel et al. 2016).
Non-economic but replaceable values can either fulfil different ends or consti-
tute ends in themselves,with thedistinctionbeing culturally- or even individually-
contingent. Ecosystem services, for example, are often valued as ameans because
they provide important resources for humanhealth and nourishment. The value of
culturalheritage in turnmightbeunderstoodbysomeasameans to theendofcom-
munity identityor social stability or byothers as anend in itself. In case the losses
aremeans towards some end, an appropriate responsewould ideally replace those
lostmeans, i.e. to provide those affectedwithnewmeans to achieve the sameends
(cf.Goodin1989).Followingsuchanunderstanding,lossofecosystemservices(e.g.
healthandnourishment)couldsensiblybe responded tobyprovidingmedication to
maintainhumanhealthandsupportingagriculturalproduction tomaintainprevious
(if adequate) levelsofnourishment. Inotherwords, inorder toevenoutundeserved
harms due to climate change, non-economic valueswhich fulfil ends requiremea-
suresfortheirreplacementbyothernon-economicvaluesorbyfinancialpayments.In
contrast toirreplaceableassets, ifnon-economicvaluesareperceivedasreplaceable,
theundeservedharmcanbe fullyaddressedand the justbaselinecanbemaintained
despite inflictionofharm.This ismoreclearly thecasewheneconomicassetsareat
issue. Inmanycases, economicgoods canbe replacedby simply reimbursing their
economiccostsorbyprovidingasubstituteof the same(market)value.
It isfarfromclear,however,whatmechanismswill leadtoprogressinmakingthe
most vulnerablemore resilient to climate change. In linewithpolicyproposals and
current literature onmechanisms to tackle L&D (e.g.AOSIS 2008; Burkett 2014;
MaceandVerheyen2016;Mechler andSchinko2016),we identifyL&Dmeasures
comprising the following three components (see chapter by Schinko et al. 2018):
(1)Comprehensiveriskmanagement tosupportandpromoteriskmanagement tools
to reduce the risk of future losses anddamages in addition tomitigation and adap-
tation, (2) risk financing comprising risk-transfer, sharing and pooling to support
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Title
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Subtitle
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Authors
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 580
- Keywords
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima